Six of Crows: To Hell and Back

Part Twelve Kaz

"How are we supposed to bring someone back from the dead?" Mikhael asked. Kaz put a finger to his chin.

"Fedyor?"  Fedyor perked up. 

"Hmmm?"

"You said you wanted to move on? How did one do that?"

"You had to find the "dealer" different from your brother. He used to be the owner of The Afterlife Casino. Sankt Ilya. The Breaker of Chains. You had to win a game against him. Then A.M. took over and now no one moves on anymore." 

"So...?" Marie asked.

"We find Sankt Ilya," Alexei said.

The Darkling clapped his hand and the room began to change. Kaz figured that fabrikators were altering the room and not that The Darkling had the power to change the environment. A small arena formed in the large room. It was circular and slightly indented into the floor. Tahlia and Hong made their way into the arena. The Darkling got off his throne and got close to the arena. everyone stood up and moved towards the arena, well, more like a ring. In reality it was much too small to be an arena. Tahlia's lithe frame seemed to put her at a disadvantage, but she was a Fabrikator. Her kefta seemed to be official from the Second Army in Ravka. She likely died in the massacre a couple years ago. It would make sense for her to be friend if she had died that way. Hong was very large and seemed to be very strong, but Grisha always had advantages over normal people. Birgit seemed almost bored by the matchup. She probably just wanted to see Kaz and Matthias fight.

"Come on!" Birgit shouted. "Get up Brekker!" Kaz took a deep breath and stood up. He watched as Hong stared Tahlia down. What would happen to the loser? Hong took the first punch and Tahlia ducked out of the way. He saw Matthias near him and slipped over.

"Helvar," Kaz whispered. Matthias turned around and saw Kaz. His eyes widened slightly and he turned back to looking at the fight. Tahlia grabbed the ground and ripped out some of it. She threw it at Hong and it pierced him in the chest. Hong didn't falter. Tahlia's eyes widened as Hong ripped it out of his body and threw it to the side. 

"Why are you here?" Matthias asked. "Who killed you?" Tahlia moved back away from Hong. Hong moved faster than Kaz thought he would be able to and grabbed her by her neck. Her arms reached out to try and grab his face. Her eyes were beginning to cross. Then she grabbed the arm that was holding her and squeezed hard. Hong let out a groan and dropped her. 

"I'm here to get you out." 

"What does that even mean?"

"Bringing you back to life." Tahlia jumped onto Hong and wrapped hard on his neck. The fabric of his clothes tightened around his neck and this time it was Hong's eyes that crossed. Finally Hong sunk to the ground. Tahlia stepped off of him and sighed. Kaz didn't see Matthias' reaction, but he knew how shocked he was. Before Kaz could explain more the fight was over. Kaz walked back to where he was. Hopefully no one spotted him talking to Matthias. Kaz looked to Birgit and she still seemed bored. Birgit absolutely hated Drüskelle. If Kaz was supposed to free Matthias he needed to distract her. This girl was dangerous and Kaz needed to change the plan accordingly. 

Hong and Tahlia walked out of the ring and the room shifted back to normal. Tahlia went to were a lot of kefta clad teens and adults. In the center was a man with a scar across his neck and grey hair. He was Shu and he had a black piece of tape over his mouth. Something told Kaz that he was definitely one who caused The Darkling a lot of trouble. He gave a look to Tahlia that Kaz thought was a mix of disappointment and pride. He heard Tahlia mutter something. "Botkin." Botkin seemed important. Kaz made an internal note about him.